Hi all UTV
I’ve read an article in the Mirror sport that Paul Lambert made a trip last week to watch PSVs Jurgen Locadia here’s a snippet from it
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert is chasing PSV Eindhoven striker Jurgen Locadia – as he searches for Christian Benteke’s ­replacement, writes Alan Nixon in the Sunday People.

Lambert made a hush-hush trip to Holland to see the big and bustling 20-year-old hitman in action for the Dutch giants last weekend.

The Villans’ chief is on red alert in case he gets a huge offer for Benteke next month, with Manchester United and Chelsea circling the Belgian battering-ram.

Locadia – a strapping 6ft 3in tall – is a similar type of player and Lambert is ­weighing up whether to make a ­£4million offer for him if Benteke attracts a bid in the ­transfer window.

Villa spies have been ­checking on Holland Under-21 cap Locadia for some time, but a ­personal trip from Lambert confirms their interest is heating up.

The Scot has raided Europe ­several times as Villa seek value for money.

And if they make a ­fortune on Benteke they could have found the next bargain.
I’m not sure how true the reasonings for Lambert scouting/watching Locadia but it could just mean Lambert is looking to deepen the squad.
It also could mean Benteke might be off in January and that’s the reason Lambert is scouting a new striker.
I was really hoping Lambert would be investing in a playmaker this January and as far as we know he might be.
Jurgen Locadia plays as a striker for PSV and also plays at international level for the Dutch at under 21.
He’s made 16 starts for PSV in all competitions with a return of 6 goals.
If this is true I do wonder what’s behind it all I will leave that debate to you guys all the best UTV

We’re constantly linked with Popov, believe I’ve read Lambert’s been to a couple CSKA games and they themselves have a fair few quality play-makers so he very well might be but the papers aren’t actually aware of what Villa ever do.

You’re on here 5-6 months, crying about an attacking midfielder that we need, we possibly could get one as amazing as Popov and you’re already thinking of him moving on from us… That’s what you call a joke.

Well they don’t call him popov for nothing. Anyway like him who us half decent will use us a stepping stone like benteke Andrew. This is what we are now a selling club. You know its true. Benteke will be of in jan or summer and would of left us after just one season if it wasn’t World Cup year and if spurs had made a bid. He came to the club and started making noises straight away that he wants to play for arsenal or a London club. Fact.

So should we not be signing players simply because 1 day a “big club” would come in for him? We have no idea if Benteke would say yes to Spurs, he’s an Arsenal fan after all. And it happens, Villa, Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Napoli, Fiorentina, Roma, Lazio, Valencia, Atletico, Athletic, Villarreal, Leverkusen, Schalke, Monchengladbach, Lyon, Marseille. All of these clubs are always at risk, despite them being big clubs, because either the giants, Barca, Bayern, Dortmund, Madrid, United, Juventus, Milan, Inter or the extremely rich, PSG, Chelsea, City, Monaco will eventually want your best players, and we as fans of any one of those clubs can’t do anything about it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try for the best we can certainly get, does it?

Popov is actually a very good playmaker. He was the player behind his team success last season. He is also a little more experienced and I think that’ll help Aston Villa this season and the seasons to come. Plus he has played with Tonev before and I reckon he’s the best player we’ve been linked with in terms of the central attacking position.

Or, if Lambert is looking for a young talent, I’d go for Celtic’s Tom Rogic. He is going to be big soon.

Fuck me, another cheap up and coming youngster from a shit league and a club that’s hardly setting that league on fire, what a surprise.
Squad signings, I’ve no problem with, but how does this move us on?
We’ve already got 7 strikers if you include Burke and most of them are far from proven.

As Bencey suggests, why aren’t we being linked to what we’re actually crying out for?

Let the moths out of your purse, Lerner, you tightwad!

Rant over 🙂

We’ll see what happens I guess, but I’m not hopeful of seeing any quality coming in.
Far too expensive, that, for a poxy little club like us*
(sigh)

*for clarity, I’m being sarcastic, just in case you think I’m serious.

To be fair, Holland have been producing far better players than any Premier League club within the last 10-15 years, and it’s PSV. They’re a huge club, well known for their youth and yes, they haven’t been great, but they’ve got a lot of talented young players.

Totally agreed Andrew.
But my point is more that I’m sick to death of talented young players who are unproven in the Prem.
I believe we have more than our fair share and want some proven talent to add to the mix.

Honestly though, which striker in the EPL, realistically, would you want replacing Benteke if he at all happens (he won’t but if) leaves in January? There just isn’t a realistic striker we could get that’s good enough to lead Villa’s line in the EPL that we could get. We won’t convince Lukaku to leave Everton, hell he even said he’d permanently move there if they got CL. We aren’t gonna convince Remy to leave Newcastle from his loan. Defoe’s not near good enough. It’s the same in other positions that we need too. We won’t convince a class DM to join us from an EPL team. Southampton and West Bromich are arguably the only ones with better DM’s than Sylla (who should play every game but then that’s another argument) and Mulumbu wants a CL team move and Southampton aren’t selling their midfielder’s for less than 20m each. AM’s, arguably the same, none good enough that we’d attract. We have no choice but to go for talented players on the Continent and the best way to do it is go for young players in the dutch league. Now I don’t think Locadia’s the best we can get, but then he switches between leading the line and playing on the right of a front 3. But again it’s all if’s and buts if we even go for him, or if he actually is even seen as Benteke’s replacement, or if he’s seen as back up for Weimann/replacement for Weimann to play on the right of a front 3. Batshuayi should 100% be looked at as Benteke’s replacement, should have scouts at all of his games. 😉

Definitely does. He tries to impress, show that it’s not an all about Benteke team like the media’s made Villa out to be. But then he’s been at the club since 07 and really wants to prove why he was so highly rated before he made the first team.

Sorry Andrew, we’ve just let the sort of striker I want, go on loan to Fulham.
Yes you’ll give me the “it’s like playing with 10 men” argument.
But it’s not my fault if Lambert isn’t willing to accommodate him.

Give him any half decent service and he gets you a lot of goals; at least a better ratio than any striker we’ve had for donkey’s years over more than a season.
Much better a ten man team than the utter dross we’re witnessing at home at the moment, imo.

Do you really think Lambert will find another Benteke, or even that he already has in one of the summer signings?
The chances are slim, imo.

All I think is that if you consistently look at buying at a low level, you’re going to end up at a low level in general.
Most potential up and coming players don’t achieve what you expect. Fact.

Nope, I actually won’t give you the “it’s like playing with 10 men” argument. What I will say though, is the style we play still doesn’t suit him. A team with Downing and Young will get Bent to score 20+ goals. A team with no natural wingers playing will get Bent maybe,,, 6? 7? Possibly 10 at the most. I liked Bent, though his overall play isn’t his natural ability, he’s exactly what you want in the box when you play with wingers.

Of course he can. Benteke wasn’t a hard spot, there were a fair few clubs scouting him before we even went in for him. Yes it was brilliant of him to actually sign him but he’s not a Rooney, an Aguero, he’s more like a Negredo, absolutely brilliant when on form, but he’s not a rare breed. Maybe as of yet anyways, but then again in 2-3 years time when he’s not getting over an injury and he’s happy, he might become the next Drogba/Ibra.

It honestly depends on what you claim is a low level? Finding a Premier League striker to replace Benteke will never happen. Unless we got Lukaku but that’s only if we made the CL which won’t happen. Bony maybe is another option but then Swansea would want 20m+ for him and he’s not exactly setting the league alight. I know you want experience, a lot do, but finding good enough experienced players that aren’t already at a top 5 club isn’t happening for Villa, it won’t. Which is exactly why we have to look in the lower leagues for talent that is just as good, if not better than the mediocre experienced players from the EPL fans keep raving they want. I mean you can claim that as fact all you want, and you’re right, most potential up and coming players don’t achieve what you expect, but then you’re not going to find an up and coming player from an EPL club that will achieve a whole hell of a lot. Face it, we have, other than maybe Southampton, the best academy in the EPL. So that basically just outs most, if not all of the “young talent” the EPL continues to fail to produce which is why we look foreign, because foreign teams have the best academies. Serie B teams have better academies than the EPL teams do.

As for replacements? Immobile, Batshuayi, Mane, Hosiner, Lasogga, Kruse,Finnbogason, Jóhannsson, Promes but I think he plays more where Weimann does now. Just a couple names off the top of my head that could replace Benteke. Will we get any of them? But these are all from “smaller” leagues but Lasogga and Kruse who are both in Germany.

Yer,Yer, pigs might flight, ffs, ffs get real, so we start a junior school in football , wow Aston Villa is no longer a football team but a school of excellence, give me a break, let’s get back to football. Give us fans our game, football not drawing board wizard making shit.

I guess with the AM position Lambert has tried to address this. The type of player we really need is going to cost money, and as yet Lerner (or Lambert?) hasn’t been prepared to spend the cash, or the right player hasn’t been willing to come to us. I think it’s something Lambert wants to fix though.

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